skivvy — maid. (("a servant, esp. a female, who does menial work of all kinds" often contemptuous – Collins.))

l'idiote — the idiot, French.

Victorian style hall stand

stand glass — the mirror in the hall stand. ((glass: "short for 'looking-glass'" – OED)) "Looking-glass" was the preferred (= upper class) term for disparaged (= middle class) "mirror" – it would be hard, for instance, to think of "Alice through the mirror". cf the 1950s systematization of these word-differences in U and Non-U.

purdah — (("the seclusion of Indian women of rank; hence fig. the system of such seclusion" – OED.))

her confessor — the particular priest Eveline has chosen to hear her confession. ((confessor: "priest qualified to hear the confessions of the faithful and grant sacramental absolution" – MCD.)) (("also, the private spiritual director of a king or other great personage" – OED.))

Jesuits — the Society of Jesus, an RC religious order, with a presence in Gardiner Street, Dublin City, where they kept a school for boys from wealthy Catholic homes. Jesuits were esteemed for their devotion, culture, education, and, at times, casuistry.

heliacal — like, or in company with, the sun. (("said of the rising of a star when it first emerges from the sun's rays and becomes visible before sunrise, or of its setting when it is last visible after sunset before being lost in the sun's rays" – OED.))

Queen's Counsellor — barrister, lawyer. (("barristers appointed ... counsel to the crown; they take precedence of ordinary barristers, and wear a silk instead of a stuff gown" – OED.))

quondam — former, one-time. ((Collins.)) Latin, "formerly".

great metropolis — viz. Dublin.

Order of St Gregory the Great

Légion d'Honneur

Légion d'Honneur — (("the highest French decoration for military or civilian service" – US Military Dictionary.)) Order of St Gregory the Great — an order (("of Christian knighthood ... which the papal court confers upon men of unblemished character who have in any way promoted the interests of society, the Church, and the Holy See" – Catholic Encyclopaedia.)) Knight Grand Cross is the highest class of the order.

Member — Member of (the Westminster) Parliament.

Ferns, in County Wexford, in the province of Leinster

Ferns — village in County Wexford, once seat of the MacMurrough kings of Leinster. ^

broadcloth — a fine woollen cloth for gentlemen's clothing. (("There is a broadcloth slang as well as a corduroy slang" – Brewer 1898.))

alien heretical beast — Charles Stewart Parnell. Alien, because of his English extraction; heretical, because Protestant; beast, on account of his being named in a notorious divorce.

Lalique

Gallé

Gallé and Lalique — ((Emile Gallé, 1846–1904: "French artist who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major forces in the French Art Nouveau movement" – Wikipedia.)) ((René Jules Lalique, 1860–1945: "French jeweller, glass-maker and designer" – Concise Grove Dictionary of Art.))

toilet glass — dressing table mirror. ((toilet: "the articles required or used in dressing; the furniture of the toilet-table" – OED.))

sword of light — the sword wielded by the Gaelic legendary hero Cú Chulainn, used as a symbol of Ireland defiant.

England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity — proverbial catchphrase of Irish nationalism. (("The cry that 'England's Difficulty Is Ireland's Opportunity' is raised in the old senseless, spiteful way as a recommendation to stab England in the back when she is fighting some one else" – GB Shaw in New York Times, 1916; Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs.))

He is far from the land — reference to the song "She is far from the land", by Thomas Moore (1779-1852). ♫♫

demesne — (("the land immediately attached to a mansion, and held along with it for use or pleasure; the park, chase, home-farm, etc" – OED.))

Mount Leinster

Mount Leinster — the highest point (2,600 ft) in County Wexford and the surrounding district.

Johnsonian quip — Samuel Johnson, died 1784, essayist, moralist, critic, and lexicographer. Presumably from "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all" – Boswell, Life of Johnson, 1791.

home rule — the long-time constitutional goal of limited self-government for Ireland. Home Rule

killing home rule with kindness — stock phrase applied to the British policy of "constructive Unionism" aimed at dampening Irish desires for Home Rule by ameliorating material concerns. It derives from a speech given by Gerald Balfour, Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1895.

twilight of the foolish poets — reference to the Celtic Twilight. (("Celtic Revival, a term sometimes applied to the period of Irish literature in English (c.1885-1939) now more often referred to as the Irish Literary Revival or Renaissance. There are other similar terms: Celtic Renaissance, Celtic Dawn, and Celtic Twilight (the last famously mocked by James Joyce as the 'cultic twalette')" – Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, 2009.)) Epitomized in The Celtic Twilight, a volume of prose by W.B. Yeats, published 1893.